According to research by Canalys, Samsung dethroned Apple in the third quarter of this year and became the brand of smartphones No.1 in China.

Why Apple has lost the top spot in the rankings and has been relegated until the sixth? There are several factors that explain it. First, Chinese consumers increasingly are buying smartphones for the first time, but these buyers are looking for basic devices with prices not too high of between 70 and 120 dollars, something that Apple and its iPhones do not offer (the unlocked iPhone 4S is offered from $ 713). In addition, previous iPhone models were incompatible with China Mobile, the largest operator in China and the recent iPhone 5 has not yet been put up for sale.

Canalys research shows that the new ranking leader is Samsung, as it could not be otherwise. Today we learned that the Galaxy S3, flagship of the Korean manufacturer, became the best-selling smartphone in the third quarter and now has become the top seller in the world’s largest market with a 14% share.

The second place is occupied by Lenovo with 13%, followed by Yulong (the great revelation of the list), ZTE and Huawei, all Chinese firms with a share of around 10% and just sixth stands Apple, with the 8 percent of the market.

However, Nicole Peng, an analyst at Canalys, believes the future looks bright for Apple, especially when the iPhone 5 reaches the Chinese market: “I’m sure Apple will have great chances to improve their shipments as consumers stopped buying the iPhone 4S because they are waiting for the new iPhone 5. ”